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Drowsy soundtrack goes back to vinyl

‘Drowsy’ soundtrack goes back to vinylEverything was done the old-fashioned way for Valentine’s Day release.By MICHAEL KUCHWARAThe Associated PressBob Martin played “Man in Chair” in the Broadway musical “The Drowsy Chaperone.” A limited edition vinyl record, like the one held by Martin, will be issued Feb. 14.

“The Drowsy Chaperone,” that fictional 1920s musical celebrated in the hit Broadway musical (with the same name), is getting its own recording — on vinyl.

It will be issued Feb. 14 as a limited edition vinyl record by Ghostlight Records, the company that produced the original Broadway cast recording of the production now on view at the Marquis Theatre.

That show is a musical-theater fantasy in which an obsessed character called “Man in Chair” plays a vintage recording of what he says is his favorite show — “The Drowsy Chaperone” — and the musical comes to life.

“We just went back and recorded it as if it were the album that the Man in Chair would have been playing,” Kurt Deutsch, president of Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight Records, said. “It’s actually a completely different experience.

“It’s not the original Broadway cast album,” he explained. “This is a version that the Man in Chair listens to — what he fell in love with, featuring the characters in the musical.”

Each side is about 24 minutes — “what you can fit on a record,” Deutsch said. What buyers will get is added dialogue plus the vintage LP cover art. What’s missing on this recording are the Man in Chair’s comments about the show as well as bonus tracks, all available on the initial recording.

“The great thing about ‘Drowsy’ is we’re a wonderful discovery from the unexpected — so the idea of a vinyl recording of ‘Drowsy,’ which doesn’t make any commercial sense, is a bit of a treasure,” said Kevin McCollum, the show’s producer.

Deutsch’s new effort is the first cast recording released on vinyl in almost 20 years, the record executive said, with the last one, according to his research, being “City of Angels,” which opened in December 1989.

The vinyl recording of “Drowsy” — only 1,000 copies have been made — will sell for $50, with part of the sales going to the Actors’ Fund of America. They will be available only in the lobby of the Marquis Theatre or from two Web sites, www.GhostlightRecords.com and www.drowsychaperone .com.